Speculative investors add to EUR shorts, reduce JPY longs

The latest IMM data covers the week August 10-17.

With risk aversion taking hold of financial markets again, speculative investors shunned positions in pro-cyclical currencies, seeking the defensive characteristics of the US dollar. Thus, US dollar shorts were reduced and long positions were added versus the euro, reflecting the collapse in EUR/USD following the downbeat FOMC statement.

USD/JPY breached below 85 during the period covered by the data. Nevertheless, speculative investors trimmed their yen longs somewhat, perhaps seeing the downside in USD/JPY as being curbed by intervention risk with Japanese policymakers seeming increasingly worried about the recent yen strength.

The Canadian economy is highly exposed in the event of a US slowdown and recent US economic underperformance coupled with abating risk appetite may therefore explain the sharp reduction in Canadian dollar long positions. Somewhat surprisingly, however, speculative investors added to long positions in the Australian dollar.

Danske Bank
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